Oba is the site of the crossing of the Canadian National (originally Canadian Northern) Railway’s transcontinental main line and a major interchange point for traffic heading off the Algoma Central Railway. Both eastbound and westbound traffic is transferred here; primarily steel products from Sault Ste. Marie but also westbound traffic via Hearst from CN and Ontario Northland in northern Ontario and Quebec is handled via Oba.
Southbound passenger train no. 2 makes a station stop at Oba on July 3, 1972. The CN mainline is to the left of the station, with the yard behind the train. Photo by R.J. Schwenk, my collection.
While CN now owns both lines and has in recent years altered some of the trackage here to eliminate the diamond and extend a switching lead, to this day Oba remains an important transfer point between East-West and North-South routes.
Passing through the CN side of the interchange yard at Oba to reconnect to the ex ACR trackage on the northbound passenger train. Leftmost two tracks are the CN main and siding. September 30, 2013, my photo.
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